Food, Recipes, Tips & Musings From Pastry Chef Tiffany MacIsaac

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Will They Like It?

Always having something new to work on is one of the best parts about my job. New composed dessert for Vermilion. New bread for Red Apron. New doughnut for GBD. And even more fun than working on new recipes is letting the kitchen staff taste them.

But no matter how good the response from the kitchen is I always worry about what the customer will think. A kitchen crew might get excited about an idea but will the guest? In the age of social media a little of the guesswork and worry has been removed. I can throw a picture of a new dish or an idea I’m working on on Instagram or twitter to test the water. No response, maybe I leave the idea alone. Lots of positive response, we keep working on it.

Yesterday I had an idea for a new doughnut. All the flavors of an Oreo cookie rolled up in a fluffy yeast doughnut. The filling is a creamy vanilla buttercream. Glaze the doughnut in a simple vanilla bean glaze then top with a huge pile of homemade Oreo cookie crumble. Drizzle in chocolate and… Well, you get the idea. It got a big thumbs up from the kitchen crew so I was feeling good about it.

But then the worry set in. I worried it would be too sweet for most people. I’m always worried about my pastries being “too sweet” and this is one of those “eat it for dessert, not for breakfast” kinds of doughnuts. I wasn’t sure if there would be any interest in it. So I took to Instagram to see if it perked any interest… And it did. In fact the most I’ve seen in a while.

So tonight I’ve already got my sous chef making a few prototypes. Hopefully it’ll be on the menu by next week. Can’t wait to get it in the shelves at GBD. I think we’ll call it “Dough-Reo”